Kate in the Night
by ucsbdad
Summary: Okay, it's really Kate and Rick. Just a short one. Now to complete the bookend, Rick in the Night. See, like a lot of my stuff, I get started and it goes on forever. And on and on.
1. Chapter 1

Kate in the Night

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Not mine. Time: Season Six. Rating: K+

"Beckett. What do you want?" Beckett stood in his doorway, dripping wet.

"You." Kate Beckett stepped forward and leaned in to kiss Castle, but he shoved her away.

"Are you out of your mind? Why would I want you?"

"Castle…Rick, please. I love you."

Castle laughed coldly. "And why would I want to saddle myself with a skinny, frigid, psycho bitch? Get out, Beckett. I hate the sight of you."

Tears poured from Beckett's eyes. "No, please, Rick. I love you so much and…"

"You are not good enough for my son, Beckett. And you never will be. You are broken. Leave now!" Martha Rodgers said.

"Get out, Beckett!" Alexis said. "All you ever do is hurt my dad. Do you really expect him to stay with you until you get him killed? We all hate you."

"Please, Rick. I know how I've treated you. But I love you."

Gina, wearing only a diaphanous shorty nightgown laughed and put her arm around Rick. "Love? That's really funny. Do you actually think you even remotely understand love?"

Meredith, wearing nothing, hugged Rick. "You're worthless, Beckett. You should have let yourself fall today and made everyone else happy. You should end your miserable life."

Kate released her grip on the ledge and plummeted towards the concrete below. Her last thought was, _I love you, Rick. Always. Rick!_

"Rick! Rick? Castle, where are you?" Kate sat up in the darkened bedroom, frantically searching for her fiancé. But she was alone in the bed.

"Kate? What is it? Are you okay?" Rick rushed into their bedroom and slid into bed with Kate. He put his arms around her and pulled her close.

"I'm okay, Rick. It was just a dream. Let's go back to sleep. It was nothing."

"Don't do this, Kate, please."

"Don't do what?"

"Shut me out. Even now, you shut me out. Maybe it was just a dream, but when I first put my arms around you, you were shaking. And you're still tense. You're upset by the dream, I know that. Tell me what it was, please."

Kate hugged Rick tightly. "Have I told you lately that I love you? That I need you desperately?"

"Yeah, but I love hearing it."

Kate was silent for a minute or two. "I dreamed about when I came here to tell you I wanted you. But when I tried to kiss you, you pushed me away. You said you hated me and called me a skinny, frigid, psycho bitch."

"Kate, I would never, never…"

"I know. I know how much you love me." Kate took a deep breath before continuing. "Martha said she hated me and so did Alexis. She said all I ever did was hurt you. Gina and Meredith were there, too. Meredith said I'd be better off dead. That everyone else would be better off, too. Then I was falling from that building. I was thinking of you and how much I loved you when…I woke up."

"Okay, it was just a stupid dream. I love you, Mom loves you, Alexis loves you, Gina and Meredith…Okay, they don't love you, but who cares?"

Kate buried her face in Castle's chest. "I shouldn't have all of this."

"All of what?"

"A man who loves me unconditionally. A man I love unconditionally. A man I can have a family with and love for the rest of my life. I shouldn't have Martha who already thinks of me as her daughter, or Alexis who sees me as a combination friend, big sister and mom. I shouldn't have all of the love and hope and joy you've brought into my life."

"And why not, if I may ask? Aren't you being awfully hard on yourself?"

Kate shook her head. "No. I know what the wall I built did to you. I know I hurt you. I did it intentionally to drive you away because I was terrified of loving someone and losing them. You were right. I didn't love Demming or Josh, but I could show them affection, sleep with them even, and I couldn't do that with you, the man I loved."

"It's okay. That's all in the past. We're okay now. I love you, Kate. We're going to get married."

"I know and I can't wait. But, Rick, it was four years. For four years I pushed you away. I hurt you. I hurt you badly. I broke your heart. And yet I wanted you. It must have been terrible for you. One minute I'd act like I was that close to loving you, and the next I'd make some stupid hateful, hurtful remark to you. How did you stand it?"

"I stood it because of the remarkable Kate Beckett."

She shook her head. "I still can't believe there is a man who would put up with that for four years, Rick. Four years of that. It's just not possible. No man would have stayed with me. Didn't you hate me sometimes? Just wish I'd go away?"

"Never. I could never hate you because you've never done anything to me to cause me to hate you."

"Rick, don't lie to me. I was there. I know I hurt you. I know I tried to hurt you."

"And every single thing you're feeling guilty for I blame on that bastard Bracken. And I love you all the more for being strong enough, brave enough and smart enough to break down that wall and go after that bastard."

"I'm very lucky, aren't I?"

"Yes." Rick said. But then added, "Exactly as lucky as I am to have you."

Kate slid Rick's hand under her tee shirt and onto her breast. "I'd like to show you how lucky you are."

"My pleasure."

"No, our pleasure."


	2. Chapter 2

Rick in the Night

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I even asked my wife. I do not own Castle. Rating: K. Time: Later in Season Six.

"It's midnight and I'm still wide awake." Kate said as the credits on the TV screen rolled.

"Duh! You were up all last night on a case and when you finally got home at 9 AM, you were still so wired on coffee and adrenaline, I couldn't get you to bed until nearly noon."

"You could have gotten me in bed if you really wanted to." Kate teased.

"To sleep. You needed to sleep. And now we're still up watching my old movie DVDs. How did you like that one?"

"I remember watching it on TV years ago. I didn't like it them. But now…"

"I know. Alexis and I have watched it a million times. Not bad for 1939."

"I shudder to think what it'd be like if they made it today."

Castle laughed. "The Munchkins would be zombies, Dorothy would be a hot babe in skin tight leather, armed to the teeth, Toto would be a genetically enhanced wolf…"

"Young girl goes to a strange land, kills a woman, meets up with three bizarre strangers to kill again." Kate said with a laugh.

Rick looked at her seriously. "And I know who you identify with in this."

"And I know who you identify with."

"Tell me."

Kate shook her head. "You first."

"You're Dorothy. Off with her three partners to right the wrongs in Oz. Beware, witches, Detective Kate Gale is on your tail. Or should that be t-a-l-e?"

"You always were about the story."

"And who do I identify with?"

"Obvious. You're the wizard. The man behind the screen making everything happen. Find that clue, Nikki. Undress her, Rook. Get that confession, Heat. Write that article, Jameson. You're easy Castle."

He smiled at her. "Maybe not as easy as you think. I'm actually torn between two characters."

"Oh, here's the complex Castle. Do I need to peel the layers away?"

"I love it when you talk dirty, Detective Beckett."

She laughed. "Tell me then. Who else do you identify with, besides the wizard?"

"The Cowardly Lion."

"Kate nodded. "Okay. The lion is funny and he's not a cop. I can see that."

"That's your take?"

Kate shook her head. "Not at all. I don't get you associating yourself with the Cowardly Lion at all."

"It reminds me of what my cowardice in the past has nearly cost me."

Kate looked at Rick. He was being serious, she thought. But she didn't understand the reference to cowardice. "It must be something before you met me, then. You're no coward, Castle."

"Oh, but I am, Beckett."

"No, I've seen you face death in gunfights, bombs, beating up professional killers to save me. No, I don't see any cowardice in you. What happened?"

"Remember when we first started working together, I got an offer to write a series of three James Bond books? I sat down and made a list. James Bond or Nikki Heat? First was financial. Bond was a world-wide franchise, there wouldn't be just books, but possibly movie scripts, promotional tie ins, the financial side was better than anything Nikki could match. There was fame. Sure, I'm well known as the author of the Derrick Storm series and Nikki Heat, but Bond? That would put me on a whole different level. Then there was personal. My dad, although I didn't know it, handed me _Casino Royale_ at the NY Public Library. That started me reading, really reading a lot. And when I read, I gradually said to myself, "I could write." The very start of my writing career was a Bond book."

"And for the Nikki Heat books?" Kate asked, getting more and more curious.

"Detective Kate Beckett."

"And…?" Kate asked,

"That was it. What was fame and fortune compared to the remarkable Kate Beckett? It was no contest. Nikki won and Bond lost."

Kate crawled up into Rick's lap and kissed him. "That is so very sweet, but where does the cowardice come in?"

"I wanted to tell you that I wanted to continue our partnership and do another book at the Heat Wave launch party, but I knew you'd be mad, and I made a mess of it. I wanted to tell you again when we were in the hotel where Mrs. Talbot lived, but I was too afraid of your reaction to get it out right. I just sat there hoping for a miracle and one arrived. And you were furious with me."

Kate nodded. "I was furious because I wanted you to stay because you liked me, not because it would be good for your writing career. I thought you didn't care for me. Going through your agent made it seem like I was some sort of afterthought. A clause in the contract: Arrange for me to shadow female detective. You do know I loved the Nikki Heat book and I wanted you to stay, right?"

"Yeah, I know now. But not then."

"If that's all there was…" Kate began.

"Oh, we haven't even gotten started on the depths of my cowardice. Do you remember when you started dating Demming?"

Kate assumed a puzzled frown. "Demming? Demming? The name does sound vaguely familiar."

"I should have told Demming and you that I was interested and that I was prepared to fight for you. Instead, I did nothing."

"You did invite me to the Hamptons."

Rick nodded. "I should have told you that I was doing more than being the generous author to his muse. I should have told you that you intrigued me, fascinated me and that I wanted to know you better. No funny stuff, I just wanted to be with you. And then I showed up with Gina. My God, what was I thinking? I was married to her before. I mean it's not like I didn't know what she was like. Later, Esposito told me you had broken up with Demming to go to the Hamptons with me. I couldn't have felt worse. When I came back to the city, I should have called you at once. But I was afraid to."

"Why?"

"I had visions of running into Mr. and Mrs. Demming, their three lovely children and their dog, Spot Demming. I couldn't face it."

Kate smiled. "Three children? Over the summer? Are you sure that when you had that certain chat with Alexis about sex, that she didn't confuse you? Give you some bad information?"

Rick shook his head. "When you told me you'd broken up with him, I should have said something to you. My relationship with Gina was already in its inevitable death spiral. But I was afraid."

"Rick…" Kate began.

He held up his hand. "Let me finish. It gets worse from here. Next was Doctor Motorcycle Boy. I wanted to tell you that you had two suitors, if you wanted me. But you looked so damned happy with Josh, I was sure you'd just tell me to get the hell out of your private life. Probably tell me to get out of your life entirely. So, I did nothing."

Kate kissed him softly. "Before you get too upset, please do remember I love you and no one else."

"I know. But next comes my two biggest screw ups. Richard Castle, the Wizard of Bad Timing, tells the woman he loves that he loves her after she's been shot. Then, when you said you didn't remember anything of it, I still did nothing. Oh, I don't mean I should have told you that first day there in the hospital, but after you broke up with Josh, I should have said something. You know, "Hey, Kate, I'm in like with you." Or something.

"Castle…" Rick put his hand up to stop her again.

"Then I finally told you I loved you to your face. When I told you about Smith and the deal Montgomery made. You were furious. Okay, you had a right to be. But what I did was unforgiveable. I walked away from you. You were facing a conspiracy that was trying to kill you and I just walked away from you. I left you facing death without me. I will never forgive myself for doing that. Never."

"You were told to go, remember? I told you to leave. I said we were over." Kate said softly.

"Yeah, like you telling me something ever stopped me before."

"Are you done?"

Rick nodded.

"Okay, my turn. For four years you dealt with a badly damaged, very fragile woman who could hardly function as anything but a cop. I wasn't capable of responding to you on an emotional level. But I'll tell you one thing, Richard Castle, you didn't have to tell me that you loved me that day at the cemetery. I knew long before that you loved me. Just as I knew that I loved you. You call what you did cowardice? I call it love. Every day you came in with coffee for me, you smiled at me and made me smile and you made me happy and you intrigued me with your bizarre theories. And every day you did that, I knew that I was loved and that I had a man I could love in return once I had sorted out my very many problems. And I do love you. Very soon I will be your wife, and then the mother of your children, and I will love you till the end of our days. And the man I love is a very brave man.

"Wow!" Rick said softly.

"And let me tell you about my fears. I have been terrified of losing you for years. I knew we were friends and partners and I left it at that. I could have told you how much I care for you. I could have said, "Rick, I love you." I could have held your hand, hugged you, kissed you, or done a thousand thinks to let you know how I felt. But there was always this tiny fear in the back of my mind that you really didn't care for me that way and that's I'd lose what we had. And that fear is still there. Even now, with the wedding date set, my dress bought, the venue booked, and everything else, there is still this tiny fear that one day you'll suddenly realize that you're Rick Castle and that I'm just a cop. And I'll be banished forever from the Wonderful Wizardly World of Rick Castle and be sent back to Auntie Em, Kansas, and a black and white life. Nothing could be more horrible to me. You have no idea, Rick."

"Oh, I do. For years I've been imagining I'd be sent off to Beckettless Land, the land of the Living Dead Dreams. That would be just as bad."

Kate giggled. "We should stay together then."

"Agreed."

"Becketless Land? Does it have zombies?"

"The brain eating zombies are in the nice parts. You don't want to know about the bad parts."

"Maybe you'd be saved by a hot looking babe in tight black leather?"

"With a genetically modified wolf the size of a horse? And a _katana_, a samurai sword?"

"Probably with a Glock. But with a sword as a backup. The babe would need a partner, you know.

"No, she'd need a husband and two partners. She'd need an ex-Special Forces cyborg with no heart, and a mythical Irish sprite who'd scare away animals with his brainless fashion sense."

"And her husband would be…"

"The Extremely Lucky Lion."

"You know, I think I'm ready for bed."

"Are you tired? 

"Not yet."


	3. Chapter 3

Alexis in the Night

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: In case you haven't heard, I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Late Season Six, perhaps?

Kate walked to the door, wondering who could be there at this time of the night.

"Hi, Mrs. Castle."

Kate laughed. "Hello, Alexis. I'm not Kate anymore?"

"Sure, but I thought you might get a kick out of being called Mrs. Castle. You haven't been a Mrs. For that long, you know."

"You're right. Although I've decided…No, _we've_ decided, that I'll still be Detective Beckett at the precinct and Mrs. Castle elsewhere, and Kate to my family."

"In that case, hi Kate." Alexis looked around. "Are you alone? I mean, is dad here?"

"No, he isn't back from the book tour yet. He's going to call me when he's boarding his plane for home."

"Good! I wanted to talk to you, and I felt it would be easier to talk to you once you were family."

"Is it that serious?"

"Yes and no. Can we sit down?"

Kate led Alexis to the couch.

"Kate, you know that I wasn't very happy with you for a long while. I was afraid you'd get Dad killed. As the responsible adult in the family I felt it was my job to tell him that he was risking his life for you with no real evidence that you really cared for him."

"I did care for him, Alexis. More than you could have known. More than even I knew, if that doesn't sound too odd."

"Nevertheless, you did hurt him. You hurt him badly, especially when you lied to him about not hearing him tell you he loved you."

"I know. I was in a very bad place, then. It wasn't my finest hour, and I'm certainly not proud of what I did, but getting shot on top of everything else I was dealing with, everything was just too much. I needed time and space. And your father gave it to me. For that, I will always be thankful. And I will always remember how easily we can hurt each other, because we love each other so much."

Kate took a deep breath. "So, are you still mad at me?"

Alexis shook her head and smiled. "Since you two got together my father has been happier than I've ever seen him and since you've been engaged, he's been even happier. I don't know how he can get any happier now that you're married. If there's a Guinness World Record for happiness, I'm sure you two would hold it. And I'm very happy that you two are happy."

Alexis looked at Kate. "It's hard to see people you love hurting and not be able to do anything about it."

"I'm sure Rick knows how you feel."

"But do you? All the things that happened between you and Dad hurt you as well. You're very good at masking your feelings, but I've had good training. Dad usually wears his heart on his sleeve, but he can control his real feelings with the best of then if he wants to. And Grams is an actress. She's taught me a great deal about reading people. Looking for the real emotions behind the façade. I'm glad you're not hurting any more, Kate."

"I still feel the pain of my mother's death, but for years that was all I felt. Now I also feel joy, happiness and love."

"There's another thing, Kate."

"What?"

"You realize that I'm now on my third mom?"

"Oh, dear! Do I measure up?"

"My real mom, Meredith, has never really been a mom. She's capable of incredible generosity, and incredible selfishness. But mostly, she's capable of being elsewhere most of the time."

"I've met Meredith. I'm not sure I'd have picked her for a mother."

Alexis laughed. "You can't pick your mom, or moms."

"What about Gina?"

Alexis shrugged. "I liked her well enough, but she always felt that the main relationship in the family was me and dad, with her and dad in second place. I can't say that she was wrong, either. But it eventually did in the marriage, I think. There were other problems, but…She wasn't my ideal mom either."

"And me?"

Alexis looked at Kate for a long time. "Every once in a while, I think you'll be Mrs. Castle, my father's loving wife, most of the time, you'll be Kate, part big sister and part close friend, and sometimes you'll be mom. I hope you'll be mom more and more as time goes by."

"I hope so, too."

"In that case, welcome to the family…Mom."

"Thank you…Daughter."


	4. Chapter 4

Jim Beckett in the Night

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: No, don't own Castle. Rating: K. Time: Pre-wedding

Castle was deep in his writing zone when the sound of knocking at his door penetrated his consciousness. _Could that be Kate?_ He wondered. _Did she forget her key?_

He quickly went to the door. "Jim! What are you doing here? Come in, please. Make yourself at home. What can I do for you?"

"Rick, is Katie here?"

"No, she's at the precinct catching up on paperwork. She should be back in maybe another hour. You're more than welcome to wait for her."

"Actually, it's you I wanted to talk to. Do you have time?"

"Sure, sure. Always. What do you need?"

"Your wedding date is drawing nearer and according to Katie, you haven't brought up the subject of a pre-nuptial agreement. Is that correct?"

"I haven't and I won't."

"I beg your pardon? Are you saying you won't have a pre-nuptial agreement? Not at all? That's…unusual for a man in your position."

"That's exactly what I said. And I'm an unusual man."

Jim shook his head. "I came over here tonight to give you a few ideas that I have. My specialty as an attorney isn't pre-nups by any means, but I'm not unfamiliar with them." Jim looked at Castle and then spoke. "I realize that I'm Katie's father and that you have your own attorney, but is that wise? You're a very wealthy man, you have other family obligations, and at the risk of being insensitive, you do have two prior unsuccessful marriages."

"I'm not offended, but I can explain. One thing about my two prior marriages, is that it gives me a perspective. I didn't feel about either Meredith or Gina the way I feel about Kate. There's no comparison. I will be married to Kate for the rest of my life, therefore, no need for a pre-nup."

"As far as my other obligations, I've already set up trust funds for Alexis and my mother. While I do want them both to be comfortable, on the other hand, I don't want Alexis especially to become one of those trust fund babies who drift through life never doing anything but spending money. As for my mother, that's more complicated, but suffice it to say that she'll be well taken care of no matter what."

"Lastly, I don't believe in pre-nuptial agreements. They're for people who value things above people. I never had a pre-nup with Meredith, and when we got divorced it did cost me a lot of money. So I wrote some more books and made the money back, and then some. The same when I married Gina. No pre-nup. And it cost me a lot of money, which I've more than made up for. If it comes to that, I'd rather that Kate get everything I have rather than go into a marriage thinking about how the assets will be split up."

"And, I'm sure in my own mind that if there is a divorce, which I don't believe for a second, I'm sure it will be my fault and Kate will deserve everything she gets."

Jim slowly shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure I understand, but I see that you've given this a lot of thought. So, there's no way I can change your mind?" 

"None at all."

Jim held out his hand. "In that case, I'm happy to have you in the family, Rick. Now I think I should leave before Katie gets home and finds out I've been interfering in her affairs."

Rick walked Jim to the door and then he turned around to see his fiancé peeking around their bedroom door.

"You were here?"

Kate nodded. "When I came in, you were so involved in writing, you didn't notice me. At first I was a little disappointed, but I decided to surprise you. It turns out I was the one who was surprised." Kate walked to him and kissed him. "You know I don't care about the money."

"I know. I think it was more of an impediment than a help in us getting together. "

"And we are together, Castle."

"Always."


	5. Chapter 5

Martha in the Night

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own no Castle, not a bit. Rating: K. Time: Prior to the Wedding. That's THE Wedding!

"Kathryn, you can't seriously be worried about marrying Richard? My God, Kiddo, he worships you."

Kate hung her wedding dress up, softly smoothing the white material. "I've been terrified of my feelings for Rick ever since we first met. Why should I change now?"

"You can't seriously believe, after all that you've been through, all that you've meant to each other…"

"No, intellectually, I accept that Rick loves me beyond reason and that we'll be married for the rest of our lives. Happily married, I'll add."

"Then what's the problem?"

Kate shrugged. "It's not rational, I know that. But, I spent years pushing Rick away from me. I was terrified that if I let someone inside the walls I had built up around myself, I'd be hurt, just like I was when my mom died. Most of what I did was simply foolish, but I know I hurt him badly."

"If you're talking about when he told you he loved you, and you told him that you didn't remember that, he knows what you were going through. Your mother's murder, your own shooting, Josh, Rick, just everything. If it had been me, I would have just curled up in a ball and hoped that the world would just go away. He doesn't blame you, dear. He understands completely."

"But I don't understand, Martha. I knew Rick loved me even before I was shot. And I knew that I loved him as well. But the fear was still there. I could have told him how I felt well before the night we…"

"I know, Kate." Martha said with a sympathetic smile. "I knew you were here, and why you and Rick wanted to keep that a secret is beyond me."

"But I didn't tell him. When he told me that he loved me the second time, all I could think about was that he and Michael Smith had conspired to keep me from evidence about my mom's murder. I should have at least considered the fact that he did it because he really did love me and wanted desperately to protect me. I didn't."

"When I went to confront Bracken, I left Rick sleeping in my bed. I wanted to protect him, just as he had wanted to protect me. I never thought that I should have talked to him about it. I did to him exactly what he had done to me, and I never gave it a thought."

"The job in DC was not my decision alone to make. It was our decision. I honestly don't know what I was thinking of. I suppose I was still just afraid of letting Rick inside of my wall, what was left of it."

"Things have changed since then, haven't they." Martha said with a smile.

"Yes. Things are much better now. But that small irrational fear is still there, buried deeply inside of me, but still there. But now I can use it."

Martha looked slightly puzzled. "Use it? How?"

"As long as that little fear is there, I'll always think about Rick before I do anything. As long as I'm terrified that I'll do something stupid to lose him, the more I'll think and talk to Rick before I do anything."

"A bit of mental ju-jitsu?" Martha asked. "Using your own weakness as a strength?"

Kate nodded. "Luckily, my real strength is that Rick loves me. Always."

"Kiddo, don't think that Rick is the only one around here who loves you."


End file.
